Durian Creme Brulee

The last time I went to Phnom Penh was a year ago, you can read about it here. I was very impressed by the fried chicken wings and had a good dining experience. In contrast, this time wasn't as great. Everyone who has eaten here knows there's almost always a line up to eat here. We went during dinner time and was told that it would be a 45 minute wait. The 45 minute waited turned into 1 hour and 5 minutes. I would wait 30 minutes for food here but I would not wait for over an hour again.

Finally we were seated at 8pm and fortunately the food came quickly. I heard the beef carpaccio is well known here so we ordered that. It was different looking than the ones I tried at Joe Fortes, at Hapa Izakaya and at Ebisu. At the other restaurants the slices of meat were separated and could be picked up one by one but this one the meat was a big round piece. There was a lot of vinegar and cilantro on top which overpowered any taste of the beef. Though the beef was thinly sliced and tender in itself.

Beef carpaccio

When I went to Vietnam I loved the banh xeo there. I was excited to see that it was on the menu so I ordered it and it was very disappointing. It didn't even compare to the streetside ones with minimal ingredients that I tried in Vietnam. The egg and flour batter was too thick and the whole thing was generally bland tasting. There was some shrimp and too much bean sprout wedged inside which made the entire banh xeo soggy and falling apart. Do not recommend if you've tried authentic ones.

Banh xeo

Another thing we tried that was only mediocre were these steamed buns with pork, radish and dried shrimp inside. It was like a larger, rounded version of dumplings you can easily find at dim sum restaurants. The vinegar accompanying the dish was quite strong.

Overall I'd stick with what's popular on the Phnom Penh menu which are the chicken wings, the noodles and the rice dishes. The other menu items we tried that are famous in the home country weren't good here.

It was definitely a foodie kind of day because we went to Cafe Medina for breakfast and then Phnom Penh for lunch! Although the restaurant was full when we were there at 2pm on a weekday, we were seated within 10 minutes because we shared a big round table with 3 other people.

Fried Chicken Wings (small order): The fried chicken wings at Phnom Penh are well known and rightly so. This small order had 12 wings in it! Each wing was coated in this peppery five-spice flavour and fried until crunchy but not overly oily. All the fried wings were then pan fried tossed in garlic and spices to make the outside even more flavourful. The dipping sauce is made of lemon juice and white pepper powder.

Dipped into the sauce, each wing was slightly sour, sweet, savoury and spicy at the same time which is why everyone loves them so much.

Fried Chicken Wings

Beef Pho Noodles: The bean sprouts didn't come with basil like other Vietnamese pho places. Maybe that is because Phnom Penh is more Cambodian. Anyways there was plenty of noodles inside the bowl and beef balls, beef tendon and beef slices. A hearty bowl of pho is a good combo with fried chicken wings.

Beef Pho Noodles

Lychee Moo Moo: I am not sure why they call it "moo moo" but essentially it is a finely blended slushie with lychee flavour. It tasted pretty refreshing.

Lemon Jelly Drink: This drink was a bit too sweet for me and had strips of jelly (like coconut jelly) in lemon flavouring. I probably wouldn't try this drink again.

Lychee Moo Moo

Lemon Jelly Drink

Although the servers were very busy with the never ending customers, they tried their best to be attentive and were friendly so props to them.

Phnom Penh interior

Overall, I never go to eat in Chinatown but Phnom Penh has changed that perspective and maybe I will go try more things there.